


Here I lay still and breathless

by lida_sen



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Traveler!Elena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lida_sen/pseuds/lida_sen
Summary: It all started when a complete stranger approached Elena at the age of ten. She learned that supernatural creatures – vampires, werewolves and witches – existed, that she was a doppelgänger of Amara, Tatia and Katerina Petrova… and that she was a Traveler.





	Here I lay still and breathless

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own TVD or its characters.

**The meeting**

It was a hot and sunny summer day, and Elena was at a park near her home. The air was humid, every sane person hid somewhere with air-conditioner; even the insects were silent. As it was summer break, her friends – Bonnie, Caroline and Jeanette – were spending time with their families, and unfortunately Jeremy was at home sick with something infectious, so here Elena was with nothing to do but wasting time at an empty park.  
The young girl lifted her head at the sound of approaching footsteps.  


“Good morning Elena.”  


“How do you know my name?”  


“I saw you with your family a few days ago, and you look just like my sister did at this age, so I asked around. I waited until now to speak with you alone. You will understand why, after my explanation. Will you listen to what I have to say?”  


* * *

So, it all started when a complete stranger approached Elena at the age of ten. She learned that supernatural creatures – vampires, werewolves and witches – existed, that she was a doppelgänger of Amara, Tatia and Katerina Petrova… and that she was a Traveler.  
   


**The Talk**  


Irina Petrova was more than 500 years old, but she looked good for her age. Well, this feat is not hard to accomplish, when you can possess or switch bodies at will. At the moment, her host was a young female in her late teens, with dark brown hair and eyes, and olive skin. If someone – of course someone outside of Mystic Falls, because in this small town everybody knows each other – looked at the two girls sitting under the shadow of a tree, they could mistake them as siblings. Which is accurate in a way, as Elena is the magical copy of Irina’s sister.  


“So” mused Elena quietly after the information dumped on her “You talked about witches and vampires, the Travelers and their curse; and the backstabbing love triangle from 2000 years ago. What does it have to do with me?”  


“According to Father… Traveler magic is the devil's work, so we were never taught of the ways of our people. I was 14 when my sister gave birth to a little girl out of wedlock and was sent to England even though I begged not to be left alone. In defiance, I secretly started to study Traveler magic with my friend, Nikol, who was the sister of Katerina’s baby daddy. Learning about the Passenger spell was what saved my life, when my whole family was massacred by a very angry vampire, for reasons unknown at the time.”  


“How are you alive? What is this spell?” asked the young girl with eyes wide open.  


“Traveler magic, especially the Passenger spell, is dark indeed. You literally take over another person’s body and life. I’m not proud of some of the things I’d done in the first few years. At first, I just needed to survive. Then I wanted to know why my family was murdered. I wanted revenge. And Nikol was with me during all this.”  


“Why were they killed?”  


“After years of jumping from one witch’s body to another, asking and gathering information, I learned of the Original vampire family and the curse placed on one of its member, Klaus. And as the curse was cast with the blood of Tatia, who is our ancestor, and the descendant of Amara, another doppelgänger’s blood is needed to break it. Katerina escaped before the ritual, choosing to become a vampire. She is still around somewhere, but I’ve never seen her since she left for England. I can understand my sister’s decision, she would have been drained of all her blood. The slaughter of our family was Klaus’ retaliation.”  


“This Klaus… Will he find me?”  


“With our luck? Definitely. They had made up a hoax curse, called The Sun and the Moon curse, that is said to annul the weakness of the vampires or werewolves. Because of this every supernatural creature and their mother tries to find the doppelgänger.”  


“Will you help me?”  


“That’s the only thing I’m sure of.”  
  


**Small town secrets/Time flies**

Years passed. One major twist for Elena was learning that she was adopted when she asked which of her parents came from the Petrova family, if Jeremy should also be informed of their magic and curse. Irina started to research, and the results were shocking. Apparently, her father was her uncle, her uncle was her father, her birth mother was the Petrova progeny, and Jeremy was her cousin, not her brother. Small towns and their secrets really are a thing.  
Her family never understood what caused Elena to act out. After coming to terms with the adoption, Elena made sure to spend as much time as she could with her family. Her birth parents might have left her, but another set chose her.  


Family nights are awesome.  


* * *

Most of the time communication with Irina was hard to achieve. She had a life and family – and how strange it was – and Elena had school. Their few meetings took place in the library, and most of the time Elena woke up with blanks in her memory, and diaries filled with spells and knowledge in front of her.  


It was an easy but very weird solution.  


* * *

Further digging into family secrets brought the true history of Mystic Falls to light. Elena decided to move out as soon as she can. Possibly to another state.  
“Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.” from President Thomas Whitmore fits the situation, though Elena would use the word town instead of bastards.  


* * *

Elena only tried dating once in her sophomore year with a childhood friend called Matt Donovan. He was cute, handsome, all American Boy Next Door (if one didn’t count the missing father, absentee mother and druggie older sister). There were just too many secrets, and the Klaus shaped cloud hanging over Elena’s head didn’t help.  


At least Caroline was happy with him.  


* * *

Jeanette and her parents had a car accident when the girls were 13. Only Jeanette survived the tragic car crash, and she hasn’t regained consciousness ever since. Her only visitors were the three grief-stricken friends and their families, as Jeanette lost her last living relatives.  
One depressed day Elena sneaked in her hospital room during visiting hours, lied next to Jeanette whispering the words " **Jaryakat a zem, daryeet acza** " to the girl’s ear. According to Irina, conscious or unconscious, the caster should feel the resistance of the host.  


There wasn’t any.  


* * *

Junior year brought the vampires back to Mystic Falls. Even if she didn’t know the names, the mysterious animal attacks and the girls with scarves on their necks were clear signs. Both Stefan and Damon were attractive, but after hearing of their relationship with her great-whatever-grandmother, Elena did her best to avoid them. It was a little tricky with Stefan, the 163 years old teenager – and why the hell did he feel the need to return to high school –, but Damon usually spent his time drinking bourbon at the Grill, creepily staring at Elena when she was there.  
Elena basically breathed vervain these days. And everything changed in December, when Damon opened the tomb then disappeared, leaving dead bodies behind. Katerina was not inside.  


The Council became active again.  
   


**I haven’t seen you in ages**  


For all the years spent searching and planning, Irina finally meeting Katerina was the result of luck. That day was one of the rare occasions when she visited Elena in body, and not just in spirit with an activation word spoken on the phone.  
Irina had just left the Grill with a coffee to go warming her hands, when she saw Elena strolling down the street. Walking faster to catch up with her protege the currently middle-aged blonde woman called out to the teenager.  


“Elena, it’s good to see you in the flesh! Nikol is taking care of the children currently so I can spend a few hours with you.”  
The of lack of recognition on Elena’s face was a dead giveaway.  


“Не съм те виждал от векове, Катерина.”  
Irina was pretty sure that being in a public place was her savior. Although her current body was of a nature witch’s, she was slightly out of practice with this kind of spellcasting.  
But the biggest problem was: How exactly do you start talking with your sister you were searching for but haven’t seen in more than 500 years, and you’re not even recognizable?  


There was a lot of crying involved.  


* * *

The Petrova Meeting of Doom was a hilarious affair, at least looking back at it after a few days. Katerina was confused, Irina was happy, and Elena watched the sisters like a hawk, snacking popcorn.  
The plan was made: Katerina broke up with her werewolf pawnfriend after securing the moonstone and sent Isobel and John on a wild-goose chase. The birth parents’ interference would be detrimental, as they wanted to use Katerina to kill Klaus and keep Elena alive. It took a few weeks, but by the ides of March the Petrova alliance managed to contact Klaus with their combined connections.  
They just needed a secure location where Elena could talk with her would-be killer.  
  


**Klaus**

The meeting happened during a compelled school trip, in a town rich in witch history – for those in the know. The interior of the small shop cancelled every supernatural ability, that could hurt somebody, making it an ideal place for this kind of meetings.  
The owner of ‘Haven’ was an old warlock in his eighties, with the presence of a school headmaster reprimanding his students. He led Elena into a meeting room, where Klaus was already waiting with a satisfied smirk.  


“Well, well, well… my doppelgänger has been searching for me. What do I owe this pleasure?”  


“Basically… I volunteer.”  


* * *

After listening to Elena’s proposition, Klaus couldn’t help asking:  


“Why are you doing this, love?”  


“To protect my family. After all, family is everything, isn’t it? For you, it’s always and forever. I would have been found anyway sometime in the future. With the visit of the Salvatore brothers and the opening of the tomb it was just a question of time. And it was seriously hard to stay far away from those two. They were clingy.”  


“Clingy?”  


“And creepy stalker-ish. I think they would have done anything to keep me alive, without a care for casualties, just because I look like Katerina. This way it happens in my terms, without any unnecessary death. All I ask is to spare my relatives’ life. And yes, Katerina counts as one, and small towns like Mystic Falls are like a big family, so the list is long.”  


“Katerina too?”  


“A family member of Katerina, who was not there when the others were killed, was searching for her for 500 years. She recognized me and taught me everything she knew about supernatural. It’s payback for her help.”  


“You have my word on that.”  
Standing up to leave, Elena stilled, face contemplating.  


“Would you give me some of your blood and help me stage a car accident, when I’m in transition?”  


“Don’t want to be a vampire?”  


“Do you really want two Petrova vampires running around?”  


“I prefer you over Katerina, sweetheart.”  


* * *

“Thank you, Elena.”  


“You are welcome, I guess.”  


* * *

_Mystic Falls Courier, April 1, 2010 ___  
**Fatal car crash**  
The Gilbert family mourns the unexpected death of Elena Gilbert…  


* * *

____

" **Vyjdi**."  
  


**Epilogue/Ten years later**

Doctor Morel sat tiredly in her chair. Her office hours were finally coming to an end, with just 10 minutes left. Her assistant opened her door with an apologetic smile and a cup of coffee.  


“Doctor, there is a little girl with a high fever and a worried, handsome father. Do you have time for them or should I send them to another pediatrician? They are just travelling through Baton Rouge.”  


“Send them in Karen.”  
The unfairly energetic and fresh nurse left the room, and her cheerful voice could be heard as she guided the duo into the office.  


“This way, Mr. Mikaelson.”  


* * *

“Will you take you medicines Hope?”  


“Yes, Doctor Jeanette.” answered the four-year old girl, cheeks rosy from fever, but smiling. The father picked her up – the toy wolf almost crushed between them – and gently brushed away his daughter’s dark brown locks from her face. Concern lessened, he took the prescriptions and moved toward the door.  


“Let’s go, love. Your Aunt and Uncles are waiting for us.”  


“Thank you, Doctor Jeanette.” Klaus said, turning back with a flirty smile.  


“You are welcome… I guess.”  
Klaus froze, just for a moment, then left the room with a slight smile on his face.


End file.
